Page 67 of The Demigod

It didn’t matter.

What mattered was finding their magic-worker before they all sobered up.

I flew up the steps, not even caring about the pound of my feet, knowing no one could see me in the darkened house.

I knew nothing about magic.

What I did know, though, was that strange… screaming sound that was like icepicks in my eardrums as I moved down the hallway.

The sound pierced into my brain when I finally came to a door.

My hand went to the knob, finding it unlocked, but I couldn’t seem to make myself move forward.

“Hello?” I called, worrying I might be screaming, since I couldn’t even hear myself over that high-pitched racket. “Hello? I’m not one of them. I’m… I’m trying to help you.”

There was one beat.

And then, silence.

The kind of silence that made my ears throb.

That was the magic falling.

The magic they were likely using to protect themselves from the gods.

I turned the knob and pushed the door open.

Nerves had my belly flip-flopping as I stepped inside.

“Thank y—“ I started, my voice faltering when I finally saw the person I was looking for.

She was young, maybe only nineteen or twenty. She was painfully thin, her bones poking out through her clothes, her cheekbones sharp. Her blonde hair hung in greasy strands around her face.

“Who are you?” she asked, voice a mix of suspicion and fury, but with a slight undercurrent of hope.

“My name is Nox,” I told her. “I’m here to get you out.”

“Why? What do you want from me?”

My heart ached at that.

So young. So accustomed to being used already.

I wanted so badly to tell her that I needed nothing from her. But I couldn’t lie.

“I want you to help me free Nemesis, so she can stop those assholes downstairs from hurting people.”

“Sh!” she hissed, eyes going huge, haunted.

I didn’t want to know what they’d done with her since they’d gotten their greedy little hands on her.

“It’s okay. They’re tripping out of their minds on Underworld poppy elixir. That’s the only way I got past them. But we have to move. I know you have no reason to, but I need you to trust me.”

Her gaze turned away, looking at herself in the mirror over the dresser, taking in herself for a moment.

“If it will make them pay, I’m in,” she said.

“Okay. Can you take my hand and move close? I, uh, have some powers too. It will make us invisible. Just until we get away from the house.”

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